Monday, 24 October 2016

Alan Rawsthorne: Theme, Variations and Finale for orchestra, Part III

The third post on Alan
Rawsthorne’s: Theme, Variations and Finale for orchestra features a major
review of the score written by Paul Earls in Notes (March 1970). The score was published in 1968.

Although this review was
completed about 18 months before the Rawsthorne’s death on 24 July 1971, Earls
does seem to have suggested that the composer’s career was ‘rounding out a
distinguished career in the British musical world.’ Nowadays someone aged 65
would feel that they may have at least another 15-20 years of achievement
before them. Earls reminds the reader
that Rawthorne’s musical style reflects ‘a solid neo-classical, modal,
Hindemithian idiom’ that has suffered little change since the early 1950s. He considers that the present work is in the
lineage of ‘Vaughan Williams, Walton, and early Britten.’ The reason adduced
for this apparent conservative style is the ‘functional’ requirement of a
commission for the Essex Youth Orchestra.

An excellent (if overly
technical) analysis and overview of the work is presented which includes ‘revolving
open-fifth bass underpinnings, bel-canto melodic patterns containing fold-back
cross-relations, half-step modulations, melodic and harmonic sequences, hemiola
patterns, two-voice checker-game counterpoint, two-voice semi-chromatic
tetrachordal wedges (evolving to a banal fully chromatic open wedge to unison C
at the end), triadic and quartal sonorities (along with a few poly-modal
structures), perfect-fifth modality, motoric rhythmic flow, and the leisurely
logic of his variation technique.’ Dissonance, where encountered is nearly
always mitigated by other ‘musical elements’ that are fundamentally
‘conventional.’

I accept that these technical
descriptions will need to be unpicked with a music dictionary in one hand. Without
the score, I could not even begin to relate this commentary to the music.

Finally, Earls considers the
scoring of the work. He thinks that this is contrived to ‘textbook’ standard.
Elements of the score ‘often look like pages from an exercise book, and would
probably serve that ancillary purpose well, as they thoroughly explore variants
of familiar finger patterns.’

He concludes his detailed reviews
with a bit of a backhanded compliment ‘The work should be gratifying to play
and hear, considering its purpose and modest and honest pretensions. Although
it will make no mark for itself on any wider scale, it is a worthy example of
well-wrought education materials in an outmoded style.’

Unfortunately, it has remained
one of Alan Rawsthorne’ least known orchestral works even amongst those
listeners who are enthusiasts for his music.

The final instalment of these
postings will examine some reviews of the only recording of Alan Rawsthorne:
Theme, Variations and Finale for orchestra, Dutton Epoch (CDLX 7203, 2008).

About Me

I am well over fifty years old: the end of the run of baby boomers! I was born in Glasgow, moving south to York in the late ‘seventies. I now work in London.
My main interest is British Music from the nineteenth century onwards.
I love the ‘arch-typical’ English countryside – and have always wanted to ‘Go West, Boy’.
A. E. Housman and the ‘Georgian’ poets are a huge influence on my aesthetic. I have spent much of my life looking for the ‘Land of Lost Content’ and only occasionally glimpsed it…somewhere in…???
My recently published work includes essays on Ivor Gurney’s song ‘On Wenlock Edge’ for the Gurney Society Journal, The Music of Marion Scott and a study of Janet Hamilton’s songs for the British Music Society Journal, and the composer Muriel Herbert for the Housman Society.
I have contributed to the journals of the Ralph Vaughan Williams Society, the Finzi Society, and the Bliss Society, the Berkeley Society, the BMS Newsletter and regular CD reviews for MusicWeb International.